Hooray! I used to hate hamburgers, I now love them. Of course, tonight what we will actually be having is burgers made with ground venison and about 20% pork. There isn't enough fat in venison to keep it from drying out if we didn't add the ground pork, but they taste delicious! My dad hunts in the fall, and we reap the benefits. We have 2/3 of a deer this year (we split it with some other people) and I am very grateful. My brother and sister in-law also gave us some of the stuff that they don't want from... Continue reading

BUY IN BULK - GET SOME FRIENDS! This is important. I hear people say all the time - well, I just don't use that much flour, beef, pork, whatever. Get some friends then! We split a pig with my in-laws every year which is much cheaper than us each buying a half. It is also much, much cheaper than buying all of those cuts in the grocery store. I have also learned to cook a lot of cuts of meat that I wouldn't have otherwise and not only have these become some of our favorite meals - they are often... Continue reading

USE WHAT YOU'VE GOT! This applies not only to leftovers, or food that you have that will not be good if you don't use it, but also to the area you live in. Local food availability. I live in Wisconsin. I am grateful for that in many ways: milk, awesome cheese, butter, yogurt, sour cream etc as well as some of the fantastic livestock and produce farmers that we have around. However, we don't live near the ocean and we have long cold winters. I love shrimp, and most other seafood, but it just isn't as fresh or as good... Continue reading

Learn to Cook, we should. It's that simple. It is important for us to learn this basic craft for our health and for our pocketbook. I have recently been thinking about the lost art of craftsmanship in so much of our current hurry-up, throw away society.. Many of us think about woodworkers, silversmiths or artists as craftspeople, but there is craft involved in anything you attempt to do well, including cooking. Most importantly, there is a great deal of personal satisfaction in the process of becoming good at something. Notice how I said process. Cooking is a craft, and can... Continue reading

My family situation has changed dramatically in the last five years as children have moved out and are fending for themselves. When my oldest son moved to Los Angeles,he figured he could survive on Ramen noodles (yech!) on the cheap. Yes, they were cheap, but certainly not healthy and a steady diet was becoming monotonous. A room mate decided she was going to help him out by teaching him to make a chicken. Bless Miranda! Even at age 21, she had the right idea. So here are some thoughts on chicken making. If you roast a chicken, you have a... Continue reading

INVENTORY! Seriously. Do this. I just did it recently and it helps immensely. I don't wonder anymore if I have oregano hiding in the spice cupboard. I know. It makes planning meals so much easier and it saves a TON of money. I always hated cleaning out my freezer only to find food that would have been great a few months ago, if we had only eaten it. Aargh. Now I can sit down with my cookbooks, planner and inventory and come up with meals based on what we have, and what needs to get used up. Perfect. I don't... Continue reading

PLAN YOUR MEALS! I can't tell you how much stress this little rule has prevented. I used to fly by the seat of my pants and it was incredibly stressful to try and decide what we were going to eat only an hour or two beforehand. We ended up eating out more, or ordering in because I just didn't have the energy to make a decision. We had plenty of food, but the motivation was lacking. This cost us way more in monthly food costs than was necessary. It also cost me a lot of time. Rather than taking time... Continue reading

LOVE YOUR LEFTOVERS! I hate to waste food, but I also have a husband who absolutely refuses to eat the same meal more than twice in a row. This has allowed me to become very creative in the kitchen. I enjoy the challenge of creating new and different meals out of the same ingredients. It saves a lot of time in the kitchen and money too. I recently created three different meals from a venison roast. We had the roast the first night with plenty of veggies (carrots, potatoes and onions) and yogurt biscuits. Venison meat can get fairly dry,... Continue reading

It's true, if you ENJOY your food, you are satisfied with less and it is easier to maintain a healthy weight. Have you noticed how much better a meal or a snack tastes when you take the time to eat it? Slow down......sit down at a table...with a plate....and a napkin. It becomes an event in time and allows you a chance to appreciate the food you eat. Although I do not always follow my own very good advice, I am always reminded of the importance of sitting down to eat when I visit my parents. Even though they do... Continue reading

ENJOY YOUR FOOD. This, I think, more than anything else is what is missing from mass American food culture. We feed ourselves junk, and we are so busy that we shovel it in without any thought. Enjoying your food not only helps you realize that you are full before you overeat (which means you eat less - saving $), it also makes you realize exactly with what you are fueling your body. Another great benefit is, it makes you a better cook - it really does - you start to realize what flavors you like together, or what exactly is... Continue reading

I didn't always love to cook and there are many days when I still don't love it. But overall, I have have too much fun cooking not to enjoy it immensely. I didn't learn to cook while growing up (which was a mistake) and that has made it much more difficult to learn as an adult trying to feed the hungry mob. There are many things that have learned, and many more to be learned, but I wish to share this because I think that now is a time when many people have lost the art of cooking and if... Continue reading